Hester Biosciences Limited is one of the leading and pioneering animal healthcare companies in India. The Company was incorporated in April, 1987 and is principally engaged in manufacturing of Poultry vaccines and Large Animal Vaccines and trading of Poultry and Large animal and Petcare health products having its manufacturing set up at Meda Adraj Village, Mehsana District, Gujarat.
The Company engages in two business verticals, namely Poultry Healthcare and Animal Healthcare. It has built a presence in several regions of Africa and in numerous nations, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The products and services offered include over 51 vaccines and 70+ health products. In addition, it offers a vast selection of pharmaceuticals, feed supplements, and disinfectants for poultry and large animals.
The Company markets and distributes veterinary and pharmaceutical products like animal health products, poultry vaccines, poultry diagnostic, laboratory kits and reagents. It markets the veterinary products of many international companies including Ghen Corporation, Japan; Maine Biological Laboratories, US; Idexx Corporation, US; International Diagnostic Systems Corporation, US; Biogal Galed Laboratories, Israel; and Kemin Europa, Belgium.
The company's own production of veterinary vaccines (in Vials) is expected to commence soon. HPL has technical collaborations with Maine Biological Laboratories and Ghen Corporation.
During 1996-97, company successfully implemented veterinary vaccine and commercial production has begun.
The company received licenses for producing 10 additional poultry vaccines. It signed a manufacturing agreement with Sinsui Inc for producing poultry vaccines.
In 2003, Hester was appointed as the exclusive Indian distributor by BIOPHARM of Czech Republic, for their coccidiosis vaccine - LIVACOX.
Hester commenced business with Merial in the 3rd quarter of the financial year by importing poultry vaccines from them in 2004-05 and therefore, name of Company was changed from HESTER PHARMACEUTICALS LIMITED to HESTER BIOSCIENCES LIMITED. The Company embarked on an expansion program, to increase its capacity from 1200 million doses to 4800 million doses, which was commenced in January 2006. The expansion project and the new expanded capacity went on-stream in March 2007. The distribution network within India was made functional with company managed depots at Pune, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Hyderabad and Chandigarh, having state-of-art cold store facilities to maintain the cold chain. Distribution costs were further cut by embarking on the use of company owned refrigerated vans for deliveries all across India.
In January 2010, the company re-launched the freeze dried MD Vaccine after 5 years. A JV was set-up in Nepal to facilitate manufacture of specific animal vaccines for international markets in 2011 for a project which costed Rs 15 crores. New technology was acquired. The Company signed a technology transfer agreement with Indian Veterinary Research Institute for acquiring technology to manufacture PPR and Sheep Pox vaccines in 2011.
Company re-launched the bivalent Marek's Disease Live vaccine for the poultry, containing HVT & SB1 strains in 2012-13. It operationalised large animal vaccines division in Mar' 15. During the financial year 2014-15, Gujarat Agrofarm Limited became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.
During financial year 2015-16, three wholly owned subsidiary Companies namely Gujarat Agrofarm Limited, Diavetra Lifesciences Private Limited and Hester Biosciences (Mauritius) Limited got merged with Company through a Scheme of Arrangement effective on 8 December 2015. Accordingly, the Company allotted and listed its 65 Equity Shares pursuant to Scheme of Arrangement vide order passed by Hon'ble High Court of Gujarat dated 8 December 2015 and the said Shares were listed at NSE Limited and BSE Limited in March, 2016. Leruarua Vetcare (Proprietary) Limited, incorporated in Botswana became an Associate Company with 49% stake of the Company and Innoves Animal Health Private Limited ceases to be an Associate Company due to transfer of shareholding of the Company in FY 2015-16.
The Nepal unit completed trial operations and began commercial manufacturing in November, 2016. Leruarua Vetcare (Proprietary) Limited, Botswana ceases to be an Associate Company due to buyback of entire shareholding by the Associate Company during the FY 2016-17. The Company held 65% stake in subsidiary Company, Hester Biosciences Nepal Private Limited (HBNPL) and consequently, HBNPL became a subsidiary of Hester Biosciences Limited (Parent Company) during FY 2016-17.
During the year 2017-18, Company acquired 54.80% in the capital of Texas Laboratories, a firm having a business place at Mehsana Distt. of Gujarat. In June 2017, Texas Laboratories converted into Private Limited Company namely, Texas Lifesciences Private Limited. Further, the Company incorporated 100% wholly-owned subsidiary, Hester Biosciences Africa Limited in Tanzania.
During the year 2018-19, Hester Biosciences Limited incorporated 100% wholly-owned subsidiary Hester Biosciences Kenya Limited in Kenya. The Company commissioned the vaccine manufacturing plant at Tanzania in 2021. It launched the Petcare Division in 2022.
In FY 2022, Company acquired 50% stake in Tanzania based Thrishool Exim Limited, company of vaccines and animal health products in Tanzania. It launched 3 products for anti-infective, specialty nutrition, parasiticides and grooming. It commenced production of Newcastle Disease and Gumboro vaccines for poultry, and PPR and Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) vaccines for large animals.